Box-type callers for attracting wild game birds have long been known. See, for example, the following patents:
__________________________________________________________________________ PATENT NO. ISSUE DATE INVENTOR TITLE __________________________________________________________________________ 574,534 Jan 5, 1897 Gibson TURKEY CALLER AND GOBBLER 2,511,403 June 13, 1950 Fleener SOUND PRODUCING DEVICE 3,100,948 Aug 20, 1963 Tax WILD FOWL CALL 3,793,767 Feb 26, 1974 Pulley CRANK OPERATED REEDLESS TURKEY CALL 4,310,986 Jan 19, 1982 Jacobs GAME CALL 4,343,108 Aug 10, 1982 Lee DOUBLE DEEP TONE GOBBLER TURKEY CALL 4,664,641 May 12, 1987 Hearn BOX TYPE TURKEY CALL WITH ECCENTRICALLY MOUNTED ACTUATOR __________________________________________________________________________
A box-type turkey caller conventionally includes a box and an actuator pivotally mounted to one end of the box. A noise simulating the call of a turkey is produced by imparting movement to the actuator relative to the box, as by rubbing the actuator against the upper edge of one side of the box. In practice, the box is held in one hand and the actuator is held in the other hand and manipulated against the upper edge of a side wall.
Box-type turkey callers are generally made of wood and take the form of an elongated upwardly open box having laterally spaced side walls joined by a bottom wall. The side walls have arcuate upper edges. The pivotal actuator extends over the top of the box for lateral reciprocation against the upper edges of the side walls. The actuator has a rounded lower surface which is conventionally coated with chalk or resin and a noise is emitted by moving the rounded lower surface of the actuator against the upper edge of one of the side walls. A box-type turkey caller of the type described is disclosed in Gibson U.S. Pat. No. 574,534.
It is known in the prior art to modify the Gibson structure to enable the emission of different sounds to simulate different types of turkey calls. The Tax U.S. Pat. No. 3,100,948, for example, obtains variations in the sound by providing a slate bar extending transversely of the actuator and movable along the length of the actuator to engage the side walls of the box at different places to produce different sounds.
My earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,641 shows a box-type turkey caller with a conventional box and actuator that is capable of producing different sounds by adjusting the actuator longitudinally and laterally of the box to present selected surfaces for frictional engagement before rubbing the actuator against one of the side walls in the usual manner.
No turkey caller, to applicant's knowledge, is capable of a measured spacing of purr notes whereby one can achieve reliable consistency of the spacing between notes.